Middle East and North Africa to receive £1.5bn climate funding per year

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is to receive a climate funding worth $1.5 billion (£1.2bn) per year until 2020.

The funding from the World Bank, which was announced at COP22, will help countries tackle the threats of climate change.

It is part of the MENA Climate Action Plan which is focused on food and water security, sustainable cities, transition to low carbon energy and the protection of those who are most exposed to the impacts of this issue.

Nearly two-thirds of agriculture in the MENA region relies solely on rainfall, which makes it especially vulnerable to changes in temperature and precipitation. As global temperatures increase, they will rise even faster in MENA, causing more frequent and severe droughts, according to the bank.

World Bank MENA Vice President Hafez Ghanem said: “Climate change will make a difficult situation much worse and will affect millions of people in the Middle East and North Africa region. This is especially true of the impact on scarce water resources, already the lowest in the world, which will become even scarcer, threatening critical industries such as agriculture, on which millions in poorer, rural areas depend for their livelihoods.”